THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



239 



INTERESTING TO COTTON GROWERS. 



From the Memphis Enquirer. 

 Panola Cy. (3Jiss.) Jan. 26, 1841. 



Mr. Editor,— l\\s usuallbr cotton growers to 

 Bun tlieir cotton as they gather it, and then gin it 

 as early as possible. This, according to my judg- 

 ment and experience, is clearly wrong. Cotton 

 should never be sunned, unless it be such as has 

 been gathered quite wet with rain ; nor should it 

 be ginned until it has been heated. 



Heat diffuses oil, and we know there is a large 

 quantity in cotton-eeed. Now, sir, put it together 

 as you gather it, both morning and evening, and 

 there is sufficient moisture to malie it heat. This 

 being tlie case, the oil in the seed is diffused 

 throughout the lint — lor it cannot evaporate. 

 When it remains in this situaiion a sufficient 

 length of time to spoil the seed, the cotton should 

 then be thrown up and cooled. Care_ should be 

 taken not to let it turn blue : — this, however, is not 

 60 easily done as you might suppose. 



The process of turning over and throwing up 

 will likely have to be repeated two or three times 

 before the seed are entirely spoiled. The trouble 

 ofoverturning and tossing it up in the cotton or gin 

 house is not greater than sunning it on a scaffold. 

 By this process you gain the weight of the oil 

 which is diffused throughout the lint, and which 

 gives the cotton the oily gold color which is desira- 

 ble, and also that elasticity and adhesive quality, 

 like wool, which never fails to enhance its 

 value. 



But, sir, there are other advantages growing 

 out of this operation : the gin will pick at least 

 one-sixth faster, and clean the seed much cleaner 

 when the cotton has thus been compressed toge- 

 ther ; and instead of cutting off short particles, as 

 is always the case when the cotton is open and 

 fresh, the saws take it off in large flakes, thereby 

 making the staple longer and stronger. 



Every farmer knows that his early cotton out- 

 weighs, and has better staple than his late cotton ; 

 and he also knows that the earlier it is gathered 

 after it opens the better. Now, sir, these facts 

 show the correctness of my theory ; for exposure 

 to the sun and rains evaporates the oil from the 

 seed and makes the linLshort and light. 



Farmers should secure in dry weather and from 

 evening pickings, in a house to itself, or a portion 

 of the gin, sufficient of dry good cotlon, to make 

 seed, but the balance of their crop they should be 

 sure to subject to the process of heating and cool- 

 ing in the shade. It is said that the British East 

 India cotton is vastly inferior to ours at present. 

 If we can make our cotton still belter, the danger 

 from that quarter will be lessened. 



ASPARAGUS. 



From the British Gardener's Chronicle. 

 A few weeks since, we reported briefly the sub- 

 stance of a paper upon the cultivation of aspara- 

 gus in the north of Spain, which was communi- 

 cated to the Horticultural Society by Captain 

 Churchill, of the Royal Marines. This gallant 

 officer was at St. Sebastian during its occupation 

 by General Evans ; and he profited by euch lei- 

 sure as his mifitary duties afforded him, to make 



himself acquainted with the natural history and 

 horticulture of Guipuscoa. We might content 

 ourselves with merely relerring the many inquirers 

 who want to know how to grow asparagus well, 

 to the report just alluded to 3 but in our opinion it 

 is much too important to be passed with so little 

 attention. 



Asparagus is probably the vegetable mostgene- 

 rally ailmired and most seldom well cultivated ; it 

 is only here and there that it is large, tender, and 

 delicate. In country gardens it is small, green, 

 and strong ; in the London market it is long, white, 

 hard, and tough — to the eye attractive enough, 

 but to the taste more like bleached timber than an 

 esculent. Indeed, we have never been able to 

 comprehend the reason why, in this our age of im- 

 provement, some ingenious turner has not pro- 

 duced imitation sticks, which might be tipped witii 

 half an inch of eatable asparagus, and thus spare 

 the necessity of cooking four-fifths of the stuff 

 that is brought to a London table. Covent Garden 

 asparagus is assuredly the worst in Europe. For 

 this reason, when really fine asparagus is met 

 with, people think it must be some peculiar sort — 

 obtain the roots from Vienna, Berlin, Hamburgh, 

 Battersea, or Deptlord, and then, when they find 

 them producing heads identical with what they 

 had before, lay the blame to the seedsman, or the 

 soil, or the climate, or any thing rather than their 

 own want of skill. There is but one sort of as- 

 paragus, be its name what it may; ail the differ- 

 ence consisis in its cultivation. 



Captain Churchill says the Guipuscoan asparsk- 

 gus measures from three to bix and more inches 

 in circumlijrence. How this is obtained, his ex- 

 cellent account leaves no room to doubt. 



Asparagus is a plant found naturally on the 

 beach of various parts of the coast of Europe,. 

 where it is covered by the drifting sand, and wa- 

 tered by salt water at high tides. Sand and salt 

 water occasionally may, therefore, be regarded as 

 indispensable conditions for maintaining it in 

 health. How seldom is this thought of! It, how- 

 ever, explains in part the excellence of St. Sebas- 

 tian asparagus. 



It seems that at the mouth of the Urumea is a 

 narrow slip of land, about three feet above high- 

 water mark, consisting of alluvial soil and The 

 wearing away of sandstone hills, at whose foot it 

 is placed. This is the asparagus ground of St. 

 Sebastian. Beds are formed five feet wide, with- 

 out any previous preparation except digging and 

 raking. In March the seed is sown in two'drills, 

 about two inches deep, and 18 inches Irom the 

 alleys, thus leaving a space of two feet between 

 I he drills. The rows run invariably E. and W. — 

 doubtless in order that the plants may shade the 

 ground during the heats of summer. When the 

 seedlings are about six inches high, they are 

 thinned to something more than a foot apart. 

 Water is conducted once a day among the alleys 

 and over the beds, so as to give the seedling an 

 abundant and constant supply of fluid during the 

 season of their growth. This is the cultivation 

 during the first year. 



The second year, in the month of March, tlie 

 beds are covered with three or four inches of fresfi 

 night soil from the reservoirs of the town ; it re- 

 mains on them during the summer, and is lightly 

 dug in during the succeeding autumn ; the opera- 

 tion of irrigation being continued as during the 



